Aston Villa are keen on Brentford defender Yoann Barbet, according to Birmingham Live.
Their manager, Dean Smith, is eager to strengthen his defence in the upcoming January transfer window and is also set to recall Tommy Elphick from his loan spell at Hull City, as reported by The72 yesterday.
Smith knows Barbet well from managing him at Brentford and is now wanting to reunite with him at Villa Park to help shore up his newly inherited backline.
Barbet had spells as a youngster at local sides such as AS Mouliets, Olympique Saint-Pey and FC Vallée de Gamage before he joined Ligue 1 side Bordeuax in July 2007 and rose through their youth ranks. Barbet quickly established himself as a regular for their B team and played 75 games for them altogether.
Barbet swapped Bordeaux’s B team for Ligue 2 outfit Chamois Niortais in July 2014. He spent just a single season with them in the second tier but impressed in the 32 appearances he made.
He then got his move to England when the Bees signed him in June 2015 on a four-year contract and he was a regular under the Dean Smith. He was used as both a centre-back and left-back. Barbet has played just under 100 games for the London side to date and has nailed down a first-team place.
It is set to be a busy transfer window for Villa as they look to bolster their defence and climb into the promotion picture in the Championship.
